Normally when you write time, such as 10:00 a.m. or 7:00 p.m., the a.m. and p.m. should be small caps. Doing so is just one more way to make your novel’s layout more professional. This is a style choice and is not required. In fact, I just finished a book published by a large publisher where […]
I couple days ago, I discussed Painting with Dialogue, which involved changing text where you are telling to text where you are showing using dialog. However, what if the text that you need to change is already dialog. How do you paint the dialog itself? Consider two people conversing. When they talk, do they hold perfectly still? […]
Have you ever saved your document only to realize that you have accidentally deleted a section of you novel? Or maybe you changed something and now regret the change and you want to go back? Well version control systems are for “techies” (yes, I am a techie but most authors are not) and so most […]
This article assumes you have used Microsoft Word to create your manuscript. Step 1 – Prepare your word document Things to note Find all instances of space quote (a single quote before a word) and write them down so you can find them again. I found these in my novel. Days of ’47 ’cause Find […]
If you want a great high quality ebook, then I recommend you use Sigil. It is free and open source and works quite well. Note: I recommend that you wait until your manuscript is done before you move it to Sigil. Use Microsoft Word to write your novel and edit your novel. Only once it […]
When you publish an ebook, you should never have an empty line. There are places where you may use an empty line. Chapters The wrong way Pressing Enter (sometime called carriage returns). Never, never use the enter key to add new lines until you are at the next page. These new lines will show up […]
Ok, so I have been reading a lot of ebooks since I purchased my Kindle Fire last year. I have even been reading a lot more indie books. One of the problems I have seen in indie books is the way the author writes the Ellipsis. Ebooks are usually justified, and so this is even more important […]
You’ve probably heard that you are not supposed to tell about emotion, but that you are supposed to show emotion. If your writing contains a line like the following, it is telling emotion, not showing emotion. “I was so surprised.” The above sentence is obviously telling. This sentence stands out because it is passive voice […]
You have probably heard often that you need to avoid passive voice and replace it with active voice. Why? Don’t think of them as passive voice vs active voice sentences. Think of them more as: Exciting vs Boring sentences. Passive voice sentences are *usually* boring sentences. Not always, but it is pretty rare when they […]
You may sometime find yourself writing a line like the following. The nurse talked on and on repeating the word miracle way too many times, which seemed to annoy my mother, before she finally stepped out, promising to be back with the doctor soon. There is nothing exactly wrong with the above sentence and it […]